PlanetMosh Keeping it Metal
The whole retro, vintage take on the classic era of Doom has been touted around now for some time, and let us be honest, in varying degrees of quality. It is one thing to pay homage to the riffs of the 60’s and 70’s but entirely another to produce something that has a sense of the modern woven into its fabric.
Landskap, (West Flemish for Landscape) are based in London and are a five piece Hard Rock band, I hesitate to label the group as solely Doom, as they offer a great deal more than a single genre moniker can allow, incorporating, as they do, elements of Psychedelic Rock, Hard Rock and the aforementioned Doom into something very refreshing and accomplished.
Already in contention for the years shortest album title award ’I’ boasts four tracks. Opening with ’Nameless Fool’, the band nail their colours firmly to the mast with an epic display of Rock that is highly addictive. Jake Harding’s vocals are perfectly suited to the track, providing an almost dream like angle, contrasting with the raw guitar sound really well, the opening moments of the song are pretty immense, classic Doom laden riffs and tolling bells before the vocal kicks in to take hold and carry the listener on a journey through the troubled psyche. George Pan’s guitar solo work, only compounds the vibe, one of those solos that you just close your eyes to, and let yourself drift away.
The instrumental meanderings of ’My Cabin In The Woods’ follows, a stark contrast to the previous track, a much more gentle approach, with keyboards and drums coming to the fore, providing a dreamy interlude in the proceedings.
Another reason why I was so impressed with this album, is in the fact that it easily avoids the trap of becoming one dimensional, the first two tracks themselves could not be more different from each other, and yet, still remain bound by a common theme and cause.
‘Fallen So Far’ and album closer ’To Harvest The Storm’ follow, and return the listener to the fold of Doom but both display a great variety of tempos and elements that can not fail to move you, again compounding the quality on offer here.
As far as Doom/Vintage/Hard Rock albums go, this is Premier League material, pretty much faultless in its construction and delivery, an album that I strongly recommend you check out.
Landskap are;
Jake Harding – Vocals
George Pan – Lead Guitar
Frederic Caure – Bass and Rhythm Guitar
Kostas Panagiotou – Organ and Keyboards
Paul Westwood – Drums
‘I’ sees release through Iron Bonehead Productions on the 16th of May
https://www.facebook.com/LandskapUK
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMQyX1RlhxU
